Containers for particulate (roast or ground) coffee have many unique requirements not considered for other containers. For example, coffee particulates give off gases while being stored, and are deleteriously affected by air. Thus, coffee particulate containers must prevent the ingress of air and hence be air-tight; but such containers must also be suitably robust to withstand a build-up of pressure, or alternatively, the container must vent the built up gases before the pressure thereof damages (miss-shapes or breaks) the container.
While particulate coffee containers were previously generally made of metal (which was easily made robust and air-tight), new plastic containers, particularly with layered walls, have now been found to be suitable for containing particulate coffee. However, such plastic containers have been difficult to handle, especially where they are of sufficient size to store a desired volume of particulate coffee, typically in the range of 2-4 pounds. Ease of use by the user of such plastic containers at home has also been a problem.
Plastic coffee containers have been known with pinch handles. However, such pinch handles require significant friction to be generated by the thumb/fingers of the user to prevent slippage, which friction is the result of the force with which the thumb/fingers engage the pinch handle. Thus, such pinch handles are difficult for the user to hold and to hold with the required force for a sufficient time due to tiring, so that the overall container weight which a user is able to hold is limited. In addition, as the container is supported against slippage by thumb/fingers engaging the pinch handle, this produces a moment on the wrist which produces strain to the wrist and which may also add to the difficulty of holding the container and the tiring of the hand of the user, and which adds to the difficulty of holding on to the pinch handle itself. Thus, from an ergonomics viewpoint, pinch handles have significant disadvantages.